As far as I know, the Tailgater dish only works with Dish network satellites not DirecTV.

As far as your second question goes, the DirecTV terms of service state a single location for all receivers. However, many people use one of their receivers for tailgating and in general DirecTV turns a blind eye to this. A few points though.

1. DirecTV won't give you any support in relation to your use of a receiver for tailgating.

2. You won't get locals once you move outside the spotbeam delivering your home locals.

3. Your tailgating dish and the receiver must be compatible. For example, most tailgaters use the 18in round dish (which is easy to set up, but won't get HD). This won't work with receivers such as the H25 or the Genie which will only work with an SWM dish. You can convert a non-SWM dish to be SWM-compatible but most people use a receiver that does not need SWM.

4. If you have an SWM system at home but a non-SWM system for tailgating you need to go through setup when you move a receiver to the non-SWM system.

5. Using a receiver for tailgating at the same time as someone is watching at home is a breach of the DirecTV terms of service. That's not to say people don't do it, I'm just giving you the legal stuff.

Im a noob that just got directv installed. I have the genie system with 3 additonal mini genies and the tech said something about SWM that you guys are talking about. Id like to get a setup together to take tailgating. What are my options since I have a SWM dish/network? Is it possible to aquire another dish and bring my box with me? Will I need an additonal swm power booster? Thanks!

As peds48 noted, only the Genie will work if you take it tailgating, all of the mini clients must have a Genie to connect to, they won't work on their own.

You must have an SWM dish, and yes, it will require a power inserter. So you want to go to someplace like Solid Signal and buy an Slimline SWM dish (3 LNB or 5 LNB - get the same as what you have at home). You will also need a tripod mount for it.

There is an android app for finding the satellites, check out www.dishpointer.com. I think there are others also.

Set up your dish in your driveway, get it aligned, and get everything working before you try and go tailgating with it. It will take you some time to get it working the first time you try, practice will greatly help you going forward.

If you are going to do a lot of tailgating, I would add a regular HD receiver to your system (an H22, H23, H24). You can then leave the Genie set up at home (with all the clients working), and just take the receiver with you. Much easier than having to shut the Genie down and bring it back up each time you move it. If you don't need HD, then get a D12 receiver and an 18" round dish - MUCH easier to set up and align.

First off, yes the receiver will cost you $6 per month recurring fee. In this case, you might want to see if you can find an owned, used, D12 receiver. Activate it during the tailgating season, then deactivate it and store it away the rest of the year. You can do that with an owned receiver, but not with a leased receiver. Be very careful buying a used receiver though - get the Receiver ID Number (RID) from any that you are considering, then call DirecTV access card department and verify if you buy the unit you will be able to activate it (that it is in fact an owned and not leased unit, and that it is from a clean account).

Whether or not you want/need HD is going to depend on how large a TV you plan to use. You can get a watchable picture up to about 32" with an SD receiver. Beyond that SD really starts to look bad. It is also possible (but harder) to find an owned, used HD receiver. Same drill though, get the RID and verify you can activate it before buying. Keep in mind, a lot of legitimate dealers are selling new, leased, receivers. If you get a leased receiver you will have to either keep it active on your account all the time, or return it to DirecTV when you deactivate it. That's why an owned unit would be good in this particular case, you can shut if off and save $6 a month for 8 months out of the year.

If the only thing you are going to use it for is tailgating, and you get the SD receiver, all you need is the18" round dish and that aligns to the 101 satellite. If you get a Slimline dish, it needs to view 99, 101 and 103 (and possibly 110 and 119). Look at your dish. If it has one "knob", it is a 3 LNB. If it has three "knobs" it is a 5 LNB. The 3 or 5 LNB dishes still align on 101 first, then you fine tune to bring in 99 and 103.

If you want HD, you will need an Slimline dish with a SL3 LNB. there are two "flavors" of the SL3 LNB. SWM which requires power inserter and legacy (four output) which does not requires a PI. any additional receiver after the first one will run you $6.00 a month